ONCE again we feel compelled to urge supporters to get behind their football team after a hugely disappointing crowd at Spytty Park on Wednesday night.

The flak will no doubt reverberate around the message boards for the jumped up Argus reporter getting on his high horse once again, but I was left incredulous on Wednesday night.

Again, let me be clear from the outset that this is NOT a dig at County's loyal faithful, a handful of whom would have missed the game on Wednesday because they were working or couldn't get a babysitter.

These supporters are not just a credit to the club; they are a credit to non-league football, displaying a loyalty and a passion that supporters at a graveyard like Old Trafford or the Emirates Stadium simply wouldn't understand.

The crowd of 726 on Wednesday - the worst in the league all season - was the best part of 700 fans down from the great following who attended the Torquay United FA Trophy game. The question is why?

Sure Torquay brought 300-odd supporters and Cambridge only had one man and his dog, but that still means 400 so called County fans turned their backs once the glamour fixture was out of the way.

Perhaps they are unhappy with the Exiles' form?

Well, County are five games unbeaten in the league and are the joint second highest home scorers in the division.

Perhaps County don't play a stylish enough brand of football?

Again, not a chance. County play some of the most attractive football in the Blue Square South, players like Richard Evans, Jason Bowen and Lee Fowler display a technique that is simply light years better than much of the dross - including long ball merchants Torquay - who visit South Wales.

So often supporters tell me at games that they'd love to see new additions to the squad to aid a promotion push, but how is that possible when the crowd numbers fluctuate so wildly?

Chris Blight, Colin Everett, Kevin Morris and Rob Santwris et al are doing a superb job this season, tackling last season's off the field problems head on and always backing manager Peter Beadle's efforts to strengthen his squad. But they won't keep digging into their own pockets if crowds are below the 1,000 mark.

The Exiles are knocking on the door of the play-offs and with the season over halfway through, are genuine contenders to reach the promised land of the Conference.

They could possibly even do it without the agony of the season's after-show party.

Manager Beadle is developing all the time, it has been a privilege to watch him learn from mistakes and mature into a fine manager with a bright future.

County supporters have to look back a long way to when things were so rosy on and off the field, yet it is the same faces every week keeping the same seats and parts of the terrace warm.

Armchair supporters seem to think that everything will be fine at County and they can just turn up when Swansea or Torquay are in town, but that is an attitude that will lead to the road of even more years in obscurity.

Do the people of Newport want a successful football team to support?

If they do, the answer is simple, get yourselves down to Spytty Park and witness an upwardly mobile team of the community desperately reaching towards success.

Next Saturday the Exiles have a massive game against third placed Hampton and Richmond, a win could possibly take County up to third and within spitting distance of the top two.

The players and staff need you to be the twelfth man and to show once and for all that the people of Newport share their dream.

That is the dream of getting one of British football's sleeping giants back into the football league.

So please, support your team, they need you more than ever.